SATURNALIA

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Transcript of SATURNALIA

Click anywhere & add an idea saturnalia • Saturnalia is the feast with which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of the god Saturn, which was on 17 December. Over the years, it expanded to a whole week, to 23 December. • Saturnalia became one of the most popular Roman festivals. It was marked by tomfoolery and reversal of social roles, in which slaves and masters switched roles. • Saturnalia was a public festival in Rome. Originally celebrated for a day, on December 17th, popularity grew it to week-long extravaganza, ending on the 23rd. Efforts to shorten the celebration were unsuccessful. Augustus tried to reduce it to three days, and Caligula to five. • The celebrations included a school holiday, the making, giving of small presents (Candelae), decorating of trees and a special market. • It was a time to eat, drink, and be merry. The toga was not worn, but rather colorful, informal "dinner clothes"; and the pileus (freedman's hat) was worn by everyone. • Slaves were exempt from punishment, and treated their masters with joking disrespect. The slaves celebrated a banquet: before, with, or served by the masters. Yet the reversal of the social order was mostly superficial; the banquet, for example, would often be prepared by the slaves, and they would prepare their masters' dinner as well. It was license within careful boundaries; it reversed the social order without really changing it. • The customary greeting for the occasion is a "io, Saturnalia!" — io (pronounced "yo") being a Latin interjection related to "ho" (as in "Ho, praise to Saturn"). NO PARTIES!!!!!!! LOOK AT MY HAT! IO SATURNALIA!